Thursday, November 17, 2016

It's the time of the year where most of your male friends/colleague/hubby/bf/brother put on their green armour and headed back into camp to protect the country.

To say that we are there to make sure you can have a good night sleep is a little bit of a stretch as we all know these jobs belongs to the main body of the army.

Reservist or better known as In Camp Training (ICT) is there to waste our time. give us a break from work make sure we are ready when button pressed (figuratively. I doubt there's a real physical button, or do they really have one?) to defend our country.

One of the highlight of every ICT has to be IPPT. Thanks to the new system last year, I finally managed to pass my IPPT after 9 freaking years!

I was a little worried this year because I just came back from a rather long trip and before that I've been running (figurative as well) around, eating and eating thanks to Makan Bus, and I've totally messed up my regular gym sessions. I feel like I'm at my most unfit stage of 2016 and I've to face IPPT. >:-(

I was so worried that my heart was pumping so fast and my palm was actually sweating. You will have no pressure if you have no chance of passing but I actually think that I can pass but maybe bother line. So my friend actually found this calculator where you can set some goals for yourself so you can know where you stand.

15.40 seems attainable to be honest. The thing about doing IPPT during your ICT is that you have friends as support. As much as we don't really hangout during non-ict period but meeting these brothers in arms is always easy. We are always so comfortable and supportive and it feels like where we left off every time although we only meet once a year.

They were volunteering to pace me, cheering for me and counting out loud for me to let me know if I'm close to my target and make sure I get this right.

So I actually completed both my static stations with better results than my goal. My running time to meet was 15.50. If it was 10years ago I would tell you I can do it within 13mins easily but erm... It's Smith version 32 not 22 anymore.

So the guys were telling me that the tactic is to run fast for the 1st two rounds and rest next two and give it all I have for the last two.

I was standing at the starting point feeling all cold and worried. I saw this small guy, who erm.. happens to be my PC and he was aiming for a silver so I thought since I'm gonna go fast I might as well run after him with all I have.

3...2...1... BOOM! And here we go. I give it all I have. Chasing him like a cat chasing after a rat, a police after a thief and a housefly after a piece of shit.

Before I know it, I only took 1 min and 40 secs for my 1st lap. If you can do simple math, you will know how good my result would be after 6 rounds. But happy endings only happen in fairy tales (and some very happy KTV lounge). I soon felt this tightness on my calf and i was like "NOOOOOO.. Whatever is going to happen now, it ain't going to be me falling out and get a DNF!!"

I quickly slow (does this even make sense) myself down and look for another person to run after but with the very tight calf and the possibility of falling out, my chest starts to feel tight and I was panicing AF. No no no.. this is not happening.

I tried to distract myself a little. I start to think about the nice pizza from New York, DAMN! That's not working. Okay... I start to think about Anne Hathaway's naked scene in Love and other drugs where she flashes her tits (caught a rerun the other day) but that was probably the greatest mistake of my life since it's taking away all my blood. I started feeling breathless, but the good news was with all these random thoughts I'm already at my 5th lap.

The lap that I was given tip to give it all I have... I crossed the line and I saw my timing at around 9min something (or was it 10. Shag cannot think). I told myself "let's go big guy! you can do it!!" I open up my steps, pushed myself forward... Giving it all I have....

...for 5 steps and I was like "fuck fuck fuck... no no no.." I didn't really move any faster and instead I feel like I was going to roll on the ground.. LOL.

I struggled my 5th lap at almost walking pace and the thought of walking was so strong. "Take a walk Smith. You still have almost 6 mins. Even my grand mother can complete 2 laps in 6mins. Chill lah.. sure pass one." - That was Devil Smith talking to me in my head. I really wanted to start walking now but NO! I told myself I'm not going to give in.

At the final 300ms of my last lap, I seriously felt like I was going to faint... My vision was starting to blur up, I thought I saw my brother calling out to me. I thought I saw Jesus standing beside him. (Not sure if it was really him.) And soon I was snapped back into reality when I heard my friend calling out my name "Smith... REACHING ALREADY COMON!!!"

It was the guy who did nothing more than 5 push ups and he was ahead of me. And I was like "since when did he overtake me." Truth was, I've no idea who ran passed me at all through out the whole time. Everything was a blur to me. He started sprinting and ask me to catch up and I did a chase. Almost like the ones that happens almost every other day on LA's highway just without the helicopter. I open up my steps, close my eyes and gave a loud scream (which probably didn't help and only got me more tired) and dash my way pass the finishing line...

I saw my timing and the next thing I know I was actually on my fours trying to catch my breath...

THIS AIN'T FUN AT ALL!!!

And ladies and gentlemen, the result.

OMG! Instead of just passing, I actually got a pass with incentive!!! For the 1st freaking time in my life I'm getting some $$$!!!!

In case you are too lazy to click the previous link, this was my result from last year.

Not exactly a superb result or something to show off but I actually improved quite a bit for all 3 stations. 6 sit ups, 7 push ups and almost a min off my running and a total improvement of 11 pts! I think my yoga lessons at Hom Yoga did work my core a lil to get that improvement.

I've no idea how but I've seen result slip showing like 60 standard push ups within 60 secs on Facebook which seems almost impossible to me.

Some of the guys were asking me if I've any tips for push ups which I did write about it last year as well but I guess nobody reads.. :( but benefit of those who asked, I will share again. (To give you a feel of this, the guys in my unit have result as poor as 4 pushups which ain't even standard to as many as 40ish as well.) I'm no expert but here's how I got my 48 reps.

I started doing it around 3yrs ago and I was at 5 reps as well but I started doing this daily.

2 x 5 in the morning before you head into the shower and head for work.
2 x 5 in the evening after work, before you head into the shower and have your dinner.

Remember, number ain't important for a start. What is important is doing it right, make sure you bend you arms and go down.

My aim was 100 a day which sounded a lot but I actually managed to get there rather quickly. Okay fine, it took me a few months.

2 x 25 morning and 2 x 25 at night. It's actually possible.

These days I will do (but not as consistent as daily, I slack off I know)